


It's Good To Be Home

by bre_meister



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse), Resident Evil - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Married Life, Temper Tantrums
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:15:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23835223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bre_meister/pseuds/bre_meister
Summary: Leon's always known that his job was hard on his family but nothing like this has ever happend before
Relationships: Leon S. Kennedy/Claire Redfield
Comments: 9
Kudos: 60





	It's Good To Be Home

**Author's Note:**

> full disclosure: I own none of these characters except for little Izzy and this started as a crack fic to help me get out of a writeers rut that I was stuck in regarding another fic i'm working on and evolved into.... something good I hope

Working for the DSO as an agent did not equate to living an “easy” life by any means and Leon S. Kennedy could attest to that. Even more so, he thought, when going on dangerous missions meant leaving a five year old and a wife at home. Leon loved his family and, just like anyone, hated having to leave them at the drop of a hat - if he got a call he had to go, no excuses, end of story. It created an interesting family dynamic to say the least. Whenever he came back from a mission, despite having already been thoroughly examined by some of the best doctors in the country, Claire would always insist on giving him a check up herself. Leon obliges his wife this seemingly silly ritual because he knows it stems from the trauma they both gained from Raccoon City and the various run-ins she had had with B.O.Ws after. Once nurse Claire finished his exam which always seemed to end with her deciding the only logical course of action was to kiss the bruises and cuts better, their daughter would swoop in for her own special time.

Isabell has always been a daddy’s girl and, like any little girl who idolizes her dad, hates it when he has to leave. Thus upon his return, the five- year - old always demands play time and cuddles. Claire tends to let the little girl monopolize Leon during the day knowing she will get her time with him at night once Izzy has gone to sleep.

It was after an especially long and taxing trip that Leon bore witness to a very interesting event regarding his daughter. The special agent had been called in to handle a situation that had gone awry. Originally two other less experienced agents had been sent to do recon on a small, remote island in the Atlantic. The Island was privately owned by a company that was suspected to be a front for trafficking bioweapons. When several days passed and there was no word from the agents Leon was sent in to find out what happened to them. Claire’s glowing optimism had apparently rubbed off on Leon to some extent because on the trip to the island he continually found himself hoping for the best. Now in these circumstances, the best was probably Leon sneaking in undetected and doing some sleuthing to discover his comrades tied up in a cell perhaps ruffed up some but alive nonetheless. For a moment, it seemed that was truly how it was going to play out - Leon put on his Agent Kennedy persona he always adopted during missions and used all the stealth he possessed to sneak into the facility and locate the men he was sent to rescue. Unfortunately, this is where the mission took a steep turn away from his ideal fantasy as not only did he find the missing agents in a lab not a cell, it was very evident that they had died and the corrupt organization they were supposed to be collecting research on was now using their corpses to test and preview their viruses on. If that was the main deviation from his dream scenario then ,in hindsight, Leon can only describe what happened next as “shit hit the fan”. He was swarmed by mercenaries who had been hired to protect the island and its assets. Leon barely made it off the Island alive, having to stake out in the woods surrounding the compound for several days until the agency could execute a “safe evac”. 

When he finally was able to return home after a several day quarantine to make sure none of the viruses swarming the island transferred to him Claire was prepared to march down to his office and tear his superriors a new ass hole. She’d told him then that no one would tell her anything, she was panicking all the while trying not to let Izzy see how concerned she was that Leon would not be coming home this time.

Perhaps because the agency felt bad for essentially leaving Leon to fend for himself, they allowed him to write his report on the incident from home. At the time he had given Hunnigan some snide comment about how “generous” the offer was after being left for dead. He knew it was unfair, Hunnigan had no real control over these things, but he was still upset and when that happened, he tended to last out. It wasn’t anything Hunnigan wasn’t used to but that still didn’t make it ok. However Hunnigan being Hunnigan simply countered his apology with a small smile and an order to spend this time with his family wisely before hanging up.

Which, Leon supposed, is how he found himself sitting at the desk in his home office writing an obscenely long report on a obscenely long mission which definitely was not spending time with his family. Apparently near death experiences did not count as an excuse to miss deadlines and Izzy had been more clingy than lately thus, Leon had put off writing the report until the last moment. He’d had to lock the door to the room to keep Isabell out but, unfortunately, it did not keep her from causing major distractions. All morning Leoan sat at the desk trying to focus but the continuous stream of knocking and “Daddy?” at the door would have been enough to drive anyone up a wall. So, after a quick lunch break, Leon begged Claire to play the bad guy one last time and keep Izzy away from the study so he could finish the report and she, being the amazing human being that she was, agreed. Leon had never loved his wife more than in that moment and made a mental note to pay her back in kind later that night after Izzy was tucked in and put to bed.

As expected, Izzy did not take to being cut off from her dad lightly. Sensing the beginis of a full blown tantrum, Claire decided that an after lunch nap was just what the little girl needed; if she slept long enough Leon might be done by the time she woke up. So Claire put the little girl down for a nap and took the quiet time to get some of her own work done for TerraSave. What Claire did not account for was the fact that Isabell had seemingly inherited her father's stealth.  
___________________

Isabell, seeing her mother distracted, snuck back to the room she knew her daddy was in. To both her surprise and satisfaction, she found the door unlocked so she, of course, let herself in.  
Leon was so engrossed in typing his report that he didn’t notice the new presence in the room until it was impossible to ignore.

“Daddy! Daddy, come play with me!”

Leon, trained agent as he was, had to admit that he had allowed his five year old daughter to sneak up on him. After recovering from the mild scare her sudden presence gave him he turned to his daughter to inquire how she got into the room in the first place.

“The door was unlocked! That means you can play with me right?” The little girl gasped as a sudden realization hit her. “Or we can watch t.v together!”

Leon mentaly kicked himself for not locking the door. Of Course, Claire had said she put Izzy down for a nap but he should have known the nap wouldn’t have been indefinite. He let out a sigh as he prepared to tell his daughter no - something he really hated doing.

“No Izzy. I can’t play or watch cartoons with you right now. Daddy has to finish this report for work and then I'll do whatever you want ok?” He was just about to reassure his daughter that he was almost done when the tears started.

“But Daddy you always have to work! You were just at work for forever!”

Under any other circumstances Leon would have laughed at the way Izzy overdramatized the literal amount of days he was gone in that way only five year olds can. Except, when he thought about it, he supposed almost three weeks would probably seem like forever for his little girl. Hell being away from her and Claire that long sure did feel like a special kind of forever for him but he couldn’t encourage tantrums - he and Claire had a talk about that last time Izzy brought out her crocodile tears and Leon scooped her up into his arms and coddled her. He was supposed to be stern, Clarie had said, “If we're not stern she’ll never grow out of it”. He knew his wife was right but dammit if it didn't hurt to see his baby cry like that knowing he was the one that caused them. So, he did the next best thing - he pulled out Agent Kennedy.

“Stop with the tears Izzy. I am not in the mood for a tantrum. I told you we will play together when I'm done but if you keep it up you’re going to be in a time out.”

Stern but fair. Don’t give in - Claire’s voice in his head was the only thing keeping him from breaking. At least it was until Isabell went full on tantrum mode, screaming and lashing out. Leon sat shocked for a moment; Isabell had never acted this way before. He finally snapped out of it when her almost harmless flailing turned into strikes deliberately aimed at him. None of them actually hurt him, that wasn;t really the little girl's intent, but nonetheless she was actively striking her father and that could not be ignored.

Leon grabbed her little wrists as gently as he could to stop her. His sternness was no longer a well composed act but very genuine,

“Isabell,” when either parent addressed the child by her full first name, it was not a good sign, “ stop it right now. You need to understand you can’t have everything right when you want it, it doesn't work that way.” He had managed to keep his voice steady and not yell over all the screaming which had attracted Claire.

“What in the world is going on in here?”

She was barely heard though because it was at that exact moment that Isabell screamed and yanked one of her hands away from her father. The momentum of the action caused her little fist to land on the keyboard of the computer Leon had just been typing at. The room went silent and the computer let out a soft sound as the report that he had spent all day on deleted itself in mere seconds. In one fluid motion Leon sprung out of his chair and picked up Isabell who had begun her screaming and crying again. He walked straight past Claire without acknowledging her even though she called his name, and into the hall. He didn’t stop until he was in Izzy’s princess themed room - an odd surprise to most who knew her mother when she was young but Claire blamed it on Leon who had called Izzy his “little princess” since the day she was born who had then demanded a princess theme for her big girl room. Isabell was certainly not acting like a big girl at the moment as she thrashed and cried on her tiara covered comforter.Leon lowered himself until he was eye level with the crying child.

“You are going to sit here and think about what you did for five minutes or until you’re ready to apologize do you understand me?” he said then stood to walk back out of the room. What Isabell said next shocked both of her parents.

“I hate you!” she screamed at her dad.

“Isabell!” for a moment Claire didn’t know what else to say but one look at the hurt on her husbands face brought the words to her mind

“You don’t really mean that! Apologize to Daddy right now!” 

“NO! I do mean it! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!” It seems that Isabell would not be reasoned with so Leon did the only thing he could think of - up the time out. He turned, the only words coming out of his mouth being:

“ Ten minutes then” and slammed the door effectively separating Isabell from Claire and Leon who now stood silently looking at each other in the hall.

“Leon, she didn’t mean it. She’s just upset! You’ve been gone a long time -”

“It’s ok Claire” it was obvious to both of them that it was not ok but still Leon removed the hand she had placed on his shoulder in a show of comfort and turned to head back to his office.

“These reports are due soon.” he continued, “I’ll talk to her after I finish” and with that Claire found herself alone in the hallway. 

She could still hear her daughter’s screams through the door , muffled as they were, and knew she would have to talk to her before Leon did but right now, all of them needed a moment to calm down.  
___________________

Isabell must have fallen asleep because the last thing she remembered was the screaming at how unfair Daddy was being and now his face was sticky with tears and snot and she had to rub her eyes. She sat up when her door opened, scared that it was her Daddy. He had never gotten that mad at her before but she hadn’t meant to do it! Really it was an accident!

Thankfully, It wasn’t Daddy but Mommy who came through the door and sat next to her on her big girl bed. Admittedly, Izzy didn’t feel like much of a big girl at the moment.

“How are you feeling baby?” she asked but Izzy couldn’t answer because she was crying again this time, out of regret.

“I didn’t mean it Mommy! It was an accident, i’m sorry!”

“I know baby, so does Daddy.” Claire tried her best but the little girl could not be placated

“No! Daddy hates me! I know he does!” Izzy was truly terrified; she had never seen her dad that mad at her before and she just knew that he would never forgive her.

“Don’t say that!” Claire was flabbergasted. How Could Isabell think Leon hated her when he loved her more than anything? 

“Sure, Daddy got mad this one time but it doesn't mean he hates you.”

“No he hated me before! That’s why he’s always working so he doesn't have to spend time with me ‘cause he hates me and..”

Isabell was rambling but Calire didn’t know what to say yet again to make the pain her daughter was feeling go away.  
___________________

Once Isabell cried herself to sleep Leon focused on getting the report finished. Thankfully he was able to undo whatever it was that Izzy had done and, racked with guilt, he got up to go apologize to his little girl. He just hoped she wasn’t too upset with him.

His worst fears were validated as he listened to Izzy tell Claire about how much he no doubt hated her. Originally Leon had stayed by the door, patiently waiting for Claire to finish her talk with their daughter before he had his own. Now, he rushed to his daughter’s side to assuage her fears and assure her of his unconditional love for her.

“Stop it,” he began, kneeling in front of Isabel to get her attention, “ I have to work a lot because I want you to grow up safe and if that means sometimes I have to leave for a little bit to go fight monsters then that's ok with me. It doesn't mean that I don’t love you. I could never hate you, I love you so much I miss you every time I have to leave and come home to you and Mommy is the thing I look forward to the most because you're my little princess.” 

At that Leon holds his arms open and Isabell flings herself at him still singing her apologies.

“It’s ok Izzy, I love you,” he looks up at Claire and moves one of the arms he has wrapped around their little girl to hold his wife as well who had moved to the floor to join them, “ and I love you too.”

She smiles as their daughter quiets between them. As Leon sits there on the floor holding both of his girls he makes a silent promise to them that he will work less even if it takes getting special permission from the president himself. He vows that never again will anyone in his family have to second guess whether they are loved or not; what’s the point in always fighting if it means his daughter barely gets to see him. He’ll just have to protect her from right here by her side and Leon decides, things could be worse.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was not Beta'd and probably riddled with spelling and gramatical errors so if you made it all the way to the end I genuinly thank you for taking the time to read this random fic that poppe din my head when I should have been writting my multi chapter fic. As always I'm incredibly thankful for all readers, kudos, and comments!


End file.
